The GRITS Hit the Road

Over the holiday weekend earlier this month, a group of the GRITS hit the road for Franklin County Virginia for a weekend of quail hunting and sporting clays.  We had a great time! 

We started off the weekend with dinner and I don't think the locals at Ippy's knew what hit them when the GRITS rolled in.

With so many of us, we split off into four groups.  I'm not sure who got the most birds but we all won in the fun category.

Team Moon Pie - G, D and T

The Natalies - M, J and S

Team Young Guns - E, C, K and K

The Horsey Set - S, W and BJ (with Belle and our guide, Scott)

Scott competes in bird dog challenges brought three of his GSPs.  This is Ranger, the youngest, and funniest.  Ranger just got used to having feathers in his mouth when he retrieved the birds and he was so funny to watch when he'd first pick them up.

My friend, S, waiting for Belle to point.  S has a gorgeous matching pair of 20ga side-by-sides made by Arrieta, a Spanish gun maker. S goes on wingshooting  and hunting trips all over the world and I love hearing about her adventures.  She's off to Turkey this spring to hunt wild boar.

It was a chilly morning but the sun quickly warmed me up.  Dave gave me this jacket for Christmas and it's been perfect for the two wingshooting trips I've been on since I received it.  It has so many pockets!

After we got back from the fields we all partook in a bit of moonshine.  During Prohibition, Franklin County was named the "Moonshine Capital of the World".  When in Rome...

John Holland, the owner of the hunting preserve, had never had women hunters before.  Well, there's nothing like jumping in two feet first!

The rest of the day saw a round of sporting clays at Summit Springs (owned by GRITS member Julie and her family)...

J breaking a target

The underside of the forend on E's (my instructor) Browning Golden Clays.  She calls it Lovey.  I shot Lovey a few times and it truly is lovely.  It has very little felt recoil for a 12ga o/u.

J and E

K and our trapper

We finished off the day with more moonshine and a delicious dinner of quail and other home cooked goodies, prepared by Julie and her family.

We all had a fantastic time and can't thank John, Julie and their families enough!  I can't wait for our next trip!

The Rainbow Bridge

For those of you without pets, the Rainbow Bridge is a meadow just before yhe gates of heaven where pets go to wait for their human companions.  When they meet up, they cross the Bridge and enter heaven together.

My precious kitty, Angus, went to the Rainbow Bridge on January 18.  Angus was nine years old and much too young to go to the Bridge.  He had several bouts of illness the last several years, and had been quite sick since November.  He was so stoic the last few months even though he didn't feel well.


Angy loved Christmas as it meant it was time for his tree skirt to come down from the attic.  I am so thankful he was able to enjoy many long, warm naps with his snowballs before he left us.

Angus will always live in my heart and memories and I'm so thankful for the many pictures I have of him.  He was such a character and so full of personality.  Some of my favorites...

The night before we knew he'd be leaving us, I realized we didn't have a family picture with all six of us.  I set up my tripod for what I thought would be an easy family photo shoot.  Oh, boy was I wrong!  The photos were all far from perfect but we had such a good time taking them!  At least Dave and I did.  Dave sat on the sofa holding Angus and Clancy and I ran between the sofa and camera carrying Devin so that I could press the shutter button.  It was only 10 feet away, but those 10 seconds went by quick!  Spencer thought it was a game and ran with me every time. 

Farewell my sweet boy.  I miss you and will love you always.

Mr. Chewy Giveawy Winner

Thank you to everyone for entering the Mr. Chewy giveaway!  I enjoyed reading all your comments and it made me feel good to realize I'm not the only crazy pet mommy out there in blog-land. ;-)

The lucky winner is Kate, with comment #4.

Congratulations, Kate!  Or should I say, Winston.  I know he'll enjoy his chewies, cookies and treats.  But if he doesn't, I'll be sure to include my address as I know Spencer and Clancy will happy to eat the leftovers.

GRITS

Growing up in a southern family, I learned there were two meanings for the word grits.  One was the traditional, coarsely ground corn breakfast cereal.  The other, Mother and Annie taught me- Girls Raised in the South.  Now while I wasn't technically raised in the south I was raised by two women who were Southern born and bred, so I kind of qualified.  But three decades later, I've found a new meaning for the word that makes me a bona fide GRITS...
Girls
Really
In
To
Shooting

I've mentioned before that I've been taking shooting lessons from a wonderful woman in Central Virginia.  Several years ago Elizabeth formed the GRITS so that women interested in the shooting sports had an opportunity to get together in a setting with constant encouragement, helpful instruction and good old fashioned fun.

Dave I shoot several rounds of sporting clays each month and are sometimes joined by his friends.  While it's fun to hang with the boys, I cherish the time I have every month with the GRITS girls.  We meet once a month to shoot, hoot and have fun with each other while breaking clays.  We met in November at a sporting clays course not far from Monticello and a few weeks ago we had our holiday part at Elizabeth's farm.

Shooting a teal (target launched straight up in the air)

The blondes in their Dubarrys :-)

The whole gang

Elizabeth's shooting shack is all dressed up for Christmas

My friend SJ, lighting it up on the chilly morning

Shooting from middle position of the covered 5-stand pavillion

Our wonderful instructor, venerable leader, and hostess with the mostess

Pictures from around the fields...

M, doing a great job!

The elves, D and S, having a little too much fun

The best four letter word in sports- PULL!

The gang

If you have the opportunity to take a shooting lesson, do it!  There are public shooting ranges in almost all locations and you can find one near you by visiting the National Shooting Sports Foundation or the National Sporting Clays Association.  If you've never shot before, make sure to sign up for a lesson or a learn to shoot class.  Ranges provide everything- shotguns and eye and ear protection- so if you don't like it, you don't have to invest anything in it.  But I guarantee that once you've broken a clay or two, you'll be hooked!

I'm off to southwestern Virginia this weekend for a quail hunt with the GRITS.  Shhh, I don't like the taste of game birds (at all) but I do have fun hanging out with the girls!

Mr. Chewy Review and Giveaway

Shortly before the holidays, the kind folks at Mr. Chewy offered Spencer and Clancy a gift card to use on their site in exchange for their thoughts on the experience.  Since Mr. Chewy offers lots of their favorites, including Zukes, Greenies, Flossies, and Sojos, no convincing was needed.  Mr. Chewy carries loads of healthy pet food and treat brands.  They offer nutritious food* such as Pinnacle, Holistic Select, Go! and Solid Gold. They even carry my fancy schmancy dog and cat food, Fromm.  Their food prices are actually a bit lower than the pet shop where I buy the boy's Fromm so I'll definitely be ordering the next bags from Mr. Chewy.  A nice benefit to Mr. Chewy is that all orders over $49 ship free.  Even though I'll order plenty of food to reach the shipping minimum, I'd gladly pay shipping just so I won't have to battle Route 7 traffic to get to the pet shop (Northern Virginia friends will know what I mean).

The boys sat down to make their list but the absence of thumbs made it a little difficult to use the keyboard and trackpad effectively so I did the ordering.  Clancy infused some Christmas cheer because he convinced Spencer the Scrooge to add a few things for the kitties.

I set off to find the boys items on the Mr. Chewy site.  The search feature was easy to use and the large pictures were nice.  One thing I didn't care for were the product descriptions.  While some items had a fair amount of information (the Zukes products), others (the Merrick beef chews, which were in fact cow's ears) simply had a stock description from the manufacturer.  With the cow's ears, if Mr. Chewy had said they were cow's ears, it would have been a lot easier and I would have put 10 in the cart instead of just two, since these are favorites of the Spencester.  Another improvement I'd make would be to widen the product offerings.  I know Mr. Chewy focuses on food and treats but I'd like to see them offer toys and other chew products.  This would definitely make them a one-stop shop for me.

Just two days after placing the order, the box of goodies was waiting for the D family furries!  And two days after that, a sweet Christmas card came to me from Mr. Chewy.

The kitties got three bags of cat treats- Zukes, Greenies and ZiwiPeak.  The pups got cows ears, wishbone tendons, and flossies, all Merrick products. 

Spencer and Clancy couldn't get enough of their flossies!

This was a great experience and I will definitely order our next round of food from Mr. Chewy. 

Now for the fun part!  I'd like to give one of you a box of dog or cat treats.  The dog lover will receive two paws up when they give their best friend two Flossies, Sojos peanut butter and jelly cookies, Blue Buffalo health bars, and a Merrick commander chew bone.  The kitty fan will be rewarded with purrs aplenty when they give their trusted companion Halo chicken treats, Zukes savory salmon treats, Greenies beef treats, and ZiwiPeak venison and mussel treats.

Please leave a comment and include whether you're a dog or cat lover and the name of the pet to whom you'll give your prize.  Please make sure to leave your email address if your blog profile doesn't link back to it.  All comments must be received by Wednesday, January 11 at midnight.  I'll announce the winner, selected via random drawing, on Thursday, January 12. 


** I use both Whole Dog Journal and Dog Food Advisor when evaluating food brands for both my dogs and cats.  It's always been important to know exactly what your pet eats but it's paramount now since the tragic melamine pet food recalls of 2007.  I only buy food and treats manufactured in the United States and encourage you to do the same.  Please take a few minutes to look up your pet foods at one of these sites to make sure your animals are eating as healthy as you are. :-)

Disclaimer: Mr. Chewy provided the products reviewed in this post however I will purchase the products that will be provided to the winner of the dog/cat treat giveaway.